Equbot

EquBot is a San Francisco-based fintech company that uses proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning together with IBM Watson to support investment decision-making. Its platform ingests millions of news articles, social media posts, alternative data sources and traditional financial and market data each day, analyzing information in 13 global languages, and converts that into forward-looking return and risk estimates, security rankings and screens, portfolio construction and optimization, portfolio overlay and monitoring, and risk-mitigation signals.

The company packages this technology in two main ways. The first is exchange-traded funds: EquBot describes itself as the first team to bring an AI-driven ETF to market, and it offers the AI Powered Equity ETF (AIEQ), with the ability for clients to request additional ETFs. The second is Portfolios as a Service (PaaS), in which clients define their own investment universe, time horizon and goals across global stocks and bonds covering more than 50,000 companies, plus real assets, commodities, inflation securities, indexes and ETFs; strategies can be backtested against a replicated information environment spanning up to 15 years or more, with explainable attribution of the signals and data behind each decision. Resulting strategies can be launched as portfolios-as-a-service or as an official index. EquBot also assesses whether a client's own alternative datasets are predictive and incorporates them into strategies.

EquBot publishes market commentary and research under the "EquBot Insights" and "EquBot Bytes" banners, including a thematic investing whitepaper produced after its platform identified thematic investing as a global growth concept in investment management.

Founding story

EquBot traces its origins to the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where the founding team was encouraged to "question the status quo." The company was founded in January 2017 by Chida Khatua (CEO), Art Amador (COO) and Chris Natividad (CIO). Khatua previously spent years as a Director of Engineering at Intel and founded Bumperglass, holds several patents, and has an MBA from UC Berkeley plus master's degrees from Stanford and the Indian Institute of Science. Amador, a CFP®, spent about nine years as a Vice President at Fidelity Investments, where he was responsible for over $1.3 billion in assets and was recognized as Fidelity's top U.S. consultant in 2012, and also holds a Haas MBA. Natividad had more than a decade in institutional investment management, including portfolio management roles at Gilead Sciences and Apple's Braeburn Capital, and earlier experience at Goldman Sachs and Franklin Templeton.

Business model

EquBot monetizes its AI platform through investment products and services rather than advice, offering exchange-traded funds such as the AI Powered Equity ETF (AIEQ) and a Portfolios as a Service offering in which institutions commission custom AI-built portfolios or official indexes. It also works with clients' proprietary alternative data, testing its predictive value and embedding it into strategies.

Revenue is generated from AI-powered fund and portfolio products, including ETFs and custom portfolios/indexes delivered as a service. A startup profile listed roughly $500,000 in trailing-twelve-month revenue.

Traction

The company reports powering global banks, insurance providers and investment companies; a published case study describes HSBC using AI to identify potential high-growth stocks. A startup profile listed 18 employees and about $500,000 in trailing-twelve-month revenue. EquBot's ETF lineup includes the AI Powered Equity ETF (AIEQ).

Latest developments

EquBot has been featured in IBM's ecosystem-partner AI adoption program, including IBM's expansion of its embeddable AI software portfolio for partners, and published a thematic investing whitepaper after its platform flagged thematic investing as a global growth concept. Market commentary posts run through at least August 2022.